Chapter 64

Although the game system in his mind now is somewhat different from the system in the "Ancient Epoch" he remembered, Gao Deng still decided not to fuss over these minor details. For things that cannot be changed, one can only actively adapt to them.

Gao Deng put the stone fragment into the dimensional bag. Perhaps because the item he had guarded for hundreds of years had finally found its owner, the arcane suppression array protecting the entire room suddenly disappeared completely. Now, this place was no longer safe.

Gao Deng unfolded the map to see if there were any other safe hiding places in the castle. He and Shelley carefully searched the map for a while, but suddenly felt a wave of rapidly spreading magical energy coming from the south wall of the room.

"Quickly retreat." Gao Deng put Shelley behind him and cast a mage armor on both of them. He summoned an animated shield in front of him and gripped the wand of acid arrow tightly.

The magical aura on the wall became more and more obvious. Through his spell recognition skill, Gao Deng quickly identified the spell causing the magical energy fluctuation: Stone to Mud.

With a loud rumble, the solid stone wall turned into soft, fragmented mud. The wall collapsed, sending up a cloud of dust. In the misty smoke, two figures emerged.

The first one was a young man with a feminine appearance, long hair, and a disheveled look. His luxurious formal attire was covered in dust, dirt, and blood. Despite this, the man still maintained the noble's characteristic elegance and composure, as if these attributes were naturally ingrained in his bones.

Gao Deng found that the person was actually Dorn Lannister and immediately relaxed, putting down the wand of acid arrow.

"Dorn, why are you here?" he asked.

Dorn touched his nose: "Miss Julian and I were having a rendezvous on the second-floor terrace, but then, for some reason, many black-armored warriors came and attacked us. I had to take Miss Julian and escape downward. Then, in this oppressive underground, we fought a group of snake-men controlling giant rats and ended up here."

When Dorn mentioned "rendezvous," Miss Julian, who was behind him with disheveled clothes, blushed. Gao Deng roughly understood what had happened. Before the banquet started, the impatient Mr. Lannister had taken Miss Julian out of the hall and rushed to a secluded place to be intimate. As a result, they accidentally avoided the chaotic mating assembly.

"My friend, why are you in this maze-like underground?" Dorn asked.

"You don't know what happened in the castle hall, do you..." Gao Deng told Dorn what he knew, making the young master of the Lannister family's face change slightly.

"This is a big problem. No wonder there are so many evil creatures patrolling the underground of this long-abandoned high elf castle." He shrugged helplessly, suddenly showing a slightly embarrassed expression.

"Gao Deng, I think I've brought you a little trouble," he blushed. It was the first time Gao Deng had seen the thick-skinned Dorn show such a bashful expression.

Then, Gao Deng understood why.

A giant axe warrior in blood-red heavy armor appeared in the gap opened by the Stone to Mud spell. Behind him were five masked men in leather armor, wielding thorny whips—these were the scourge warriors who served the goddess of torture, Lovita. Additionally, there were four snake-men driving over fifty abyssal ferocious rats.

"No wonder you were in a panic, trying to escape with the Stone to Mud spell, being chased by such a large group," Gao Deng gritted his teeth. He really wanted to write "useless teammate" on Dorn's perfect face with ink.

Dorn was unconcerned: "What can I do? Who made them jealous of my looks?"

"Looks? That's called a face that invites trouble!"

The two women, who had no combat ability, immediately retreated. Gao Deng and Dorn, however, had to prepare for battle.

"Hehe, the two most hated rats have been driven into a dead end, making it much easier now." The black warrior laughed cruelly, holding his giant axe horizontally and pointing forward, "Attack, defeat them!"

The black warrior, who had fought Gao Deng before, was undoubtedly very powerful. The five scourge warriors behind him were also not to be underestimated. These advanced divine servants were at least level five elite warriors. Relatively speaking, the easiest to deal with were the snake-men—although the massive rat swarm they controlled looked the most terrifying.

"My friend, this is the first time we are fighting side by side. Look, my blood is boiling!" Dorn's eyes shone with excitement. He casually tore off his tattered formal attire, revealing a golden breastplate underneath.

"Wearing armor? What is this guy thinking?"

Since wizards need to perform precise and complex gestures to cast spells, which must be completed within a few seconds, they do not wear armor that affects arm movement—even light leather armor is not allowed. Even in cold weather, they prefer to use spells to maintain body temperature rather than wear thick cotton clothing.

A breastplate is medium armor. If a regular wizard wears it, the spell failure rate will definitely increase significantly. Dorn dared to wear it, either because he was deliberately courting death, or because the Lannister family had a special method to allow wizards to wear armor without affecting spell success rates.

Considering the family's background, the latter possibility was more likely.

Although there is a metamagic feat called "Still Spell" that allows casting without gestures, it requires a higher-level spell slot and is not commonly used. Clearly, Dorn had a more practical ability than "Still Spell."

Before the enemies approached, Dorn, who specialized in the school of transmutation, grabbed a handful of magic scrolls and cast several buffs on himself in rapid succession.

Grease, Stone Fist, Coppier's Sensitive Nerves, Lion's Charge, Dragon Skin, Haste, Spider Skin, Balor's Flame Shield...

Gao Deng had never seen anyone so extravagantly cast so many buffs on themselves. After using a large magic scroll, Dorn even went so far as to put on the Ring of Vigor that Gao Deng had made for him and immediately activated it.

To be honest, the Ring of Vigor temporarily provided Dorn with +4 to Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution, which indeed further enhanced his combat ability—provided he didn't mind his "equipment" being permanently erect.

Well, Mr. Dorn Lannister seemed to indeed not care about the awkwardness of pitching a tent in front of a group of enemies. He roared and charged into the enemy ranks like the most reckless barbarian warrior: "Gao Deng, the black warrior and the snake-men are yours, I'll take care of the whip-wielding guys!"

Seeing Dorn arbitrarily decide the combat targets, Gao Deng could only curse under his breath. The black warrior also seemed more interested in Gao Deng, who had escaped from him before, and quickly approached with his battle axe raised.

Gao Deng gently rubbed the green spinel necklace around his neck, and a huge blade golem immediately appeared in front of the black warrior.

Clang!

The decapitating battle axe and the four large leaf-shaped blades collided, sparking metal. The blade golem's body shook slightly, while the black warrior took three steps back.

"Hmph, annoying construct!" The black warrior took a breath, steadied himself, and raised his battle axe. Abyssal language drifted out from his helmet.

Two orange six-pointed star summoning arrays appeared beside him. Sulfur-scented flames burst open, and two large dog demons emerged from the summoning arrays.

These were demons with the bodies of dogs and the faces of goblins. They stood over two meters tall, weighed 150 kilograms, and possessed abilities like "Charm Human," "Emotion," and "Levitate." Fortunately, the blade golem was immune to all mind-affecting spells, or it might have been at a disadvantage.

After summoning abyssal servants to help him, the black warrior cast a Bull's Strength on himself. His blood-red armor glowed with a dark green light, and he charged at the blade golem again.

Gao Deng directed the blade golem to block the black warrior. With the help of buffs and summoned creatures, the black warrior fought the blade golem evenly, posing no immediate threat to Gao Deng. Thus, the wizard could free his hands to deal with the swarm of abyssal ferocious rats.

The rat herders clearly did not know how their companions had failed against Gao Deng. They formed the rats into the densest formation, like a wave surging forward, but this was the best time to use area-of-effect spells.

Gao Deng used "Dason's Chilled Prison" twice, freezing the furry, giant meatballs of abyssal ferocious rats into meatballs. He did not hold back, pulling out his wand and firing four potent Melf's Acid Arrows. The four snake-men, still in shock from the destruction of the rat swarm, were hit by the green acid arrows, screaming and writhing on the ground, their chests corroded into large holes, and their internal organs melted, dying in an extremely miserable state.

At this moment, Mr. Dorn displayed a bravery comparable to his prowess in bed with women. Facing the five sharp bone-bladed whips, he casually blocked them with his hand, allowing the whips to wrap around his arm. If it were an ordinary person, this would have definitely torn off several pieces of flesh from the arm, but for Dorn, who was protected by multiple buffs and armor, it was no problem.

His handsome face showed a cunning smile. He pulled his arm, and to everyone's surprise, he managed to grab all five scourge warriors' whips. Although Dorn, as a wizard, had a Strength attribute of around 10, which was average for a human, the Stone Fist spell provided him with +4 to Strength, and the Bull's Strength from the Ring of Vigor provided another +4 to Strength.

This meant that Dorn, with at least 18 Strength, could match the strongest orc in a wrist-wrestling contest. The five scourge warriors, who excelled in agility and long-range attacks, were no match for Dorn.

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